NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Free Press Responds to AT&T -- AT&T Accused of Racist Rhetoric? -- And Whose Side Am I On Anyway?
Free Press Responds to AT&T
-- AT&T Accused of Racist Rhetoric?
-- And Whose Side Am I On Anyway?
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000753.html
Greetings. Yesterday, in "New 'Shark' AT&T Ad and Bizarre Blog
Posting Attempt to Ridicule Net Neutrality" ( http://bit.ly/cV8WWq
[Lauren's Blog] ), I suggested that the bizarre "Church of Extreme Net
Neutrality ('CoENN')" terminology used throughout a recent posting on
AT&T's official Public Policy Blog seemed not only to detract from
their presumably intended message, but also was demeaning and not at
all funny.
I have two updates related to this. First, Free Press, the primary
target of that AT&T piece (and in fact an organization whose recent
tactics I've criticized (see "Free Press, Lauren Weinstein, Google,
and Net Neutrality" - http://bit.ly/9VikaK [Lauren's Blog] ),
contacted me to note the various recent responses to AT&T's posting.
In particular, there's this Free Press statement: "AT&T Misleads FCC
about 'Paid Prioritization' on the Internet" ( http://bit.ly/cKGMC6
[Free Press]), plus this letter to the FCC from the Open Technology
Initiative: http://bit.ly/cb5kPi [FCC], and finally this National
Journal article quoting the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force):
http://bit.ly/9yh4pg (National Journal).
Also relating to the AT&T posting in question, I was frankly surprised
this morning by a number of messages from persons expressing
suspicions that the use of the term "CoENN" by AT&T had racist
overtones. Two representative quotes:
"Given the phonemic similarity to 'Cohen' (priest), I find that usage
not just 'ingratiating... demeaning, and not...funny,' but outright
offensive."
and:
"Not being Jewish, it might be easier for me to point out that CoENN
would be pronounced Cohen. I personally, find the acronym racist and
antisemitic. Given the association of Jewish activists with the civil
rights movement, I find it likely that the racism is intentional."
Frankly, this interpretation of "CoENN" didn't cross my mind, and I'd
personally give AT&T the benefit of the doubt on this one. I do not
wish to believe that AT&T would be so utterly insensitive as to
purposely invoke such imagery. My assumption and hope is that we're
looking at an unintentional coincidence, not a backhanded racial
smear. However, since AT&T's use of the term obviously did upset some
readers, I thought it incumbent on me to note the situation and my
current interpretation.
Finally, I've received a number of new "Whose side are you on anyway?"
queries, from observers who have noticed that I don't seem to join
exclusively with one side or another in these technical policy
debates.
To this, I plead guilty. My somewhat quixotic quest is to bring a
sense of reality and truth (at least as I understand them) to these
discussions, and if this sooner or later upsets parties on all sides
of these debates then perhaps I've got the mix more or less in the
sweet spot.
And I'll make the following pledge right now. Though at the moment I
"enjoy" the editorial freedom of having no master (in other words,
being unemployed), my publicly stated opinions -- for whatever they're
worth -- will never be for sale. Obviously when employed the ability
to publicly speak about certain issues is necessarily limited -- that
goes with the territory. But regardless of my (hopefully!) changed
future employment status, I will never make public statements
regarding my own opinions that do not correspond to my true beliefs.
That's one thing you can depend on. Thanks, all.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance):
http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz